


Differential

by ZedElla (Leviarty)



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Sheppard is secretly a mathlete
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 13:52:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4394399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leviarty/pseuds/ZedElla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>McKay is determined to find out what John is hiding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Differential

**Author's Note:**

> More McShep? More McShep.

Rodney doesn’t realize it immediately, brushes it off as lucky guesses and cheating, because John Sheppard, flyboy extraordinaire, couldn’t _possibly_ have any understanding of numbers beyond 10 th grade geometry.

But then there’s the Brotherhood and the Genii and _Mensa_? John Sheppard took the Mensa test (what, for fun?), but more importantly, and more confusingly, John Sheppard _passed_ the Mensa test?

And Rodney, well, now Rodney is flustered and stumbling over himself and forgetting about the ZPM and the Genii because Sheppard, who is unparalleled in his ability to use Ancient technology, is an excellent pilot, excellent commander, and is downright gorgeous, also, apparently, tests in the near genius spectrum.

Oh god, all that hair must just be to hide his brain.

Rodney might swoon.

 

It isn’t until months later, after the return trip from Earth, when Rodney finds a book on Sheppard shelf – a book which Rodney would be hard-pressed to consider good, downtime fun, that he asks “What was your degree in?”

“What?” Sheppard asks, because he’s not really paying attention to McKay, though he’s not really focused on the mission reports on his desk, either.

“Most officers have some kind of degree, right? What is yours?” He figures for most it’s something stupid like ‘leadership’ or ‘ass kicking’, but John Sheppard, he has found, is uniquely capable of surprising him in these matters. Besides, if he’s brought a book on discrete mathematics for _fun_ , it must be something good, right?

“Doesn’t matter,” John says, offhandedly, and Rodney knows, _knows_ that means he’s hiding something. And if he’s not going to tell, well, Rodney will just have to find out for himself.

He doesn’t even have to leave the couch to do it.

“Holy shit.”

“What is it now, Rodney,” Sheppard asks with a roll of his eye.

Rodney thrusts his tablet, on which he’s written a moderately complex math problem, in front of the Colonel.

“Rodney, I’m a little busy.”

“Just answer the question.”

Sheppard barely looks up long enough to read the problem, before going back to his mission reports. He says the answer a moment later, and Rodney’s mouth falls open in surprise.

“It’s a simple problem, Rodney.”

“Yes, I think so. Most of my science team would disagree. Then again, most of them don’t have a masters in combinatorics.”

John looked up from his desk in surprise. “You read my file?”

“Well, you wouldn’t tell me.”

“You’re like a child, you know. And you didn’t finish reading it.”

Rodney tapped around the screen. “I don’t see what else there could possibly be of impor- _And_ differential geometry? Why have I been having Zelenka check my work all this time, when clearly you are the superior mathematician? And for that matter, why didn’t you go for your doctorate or something.”

John shrugged. “ _Dr. John Sheppard_ just didn’t sound right.”

And then Rodney is kissing him. John doesn’t give him the chance to reconsider; he grasps at Rodney’s neck, pulling him closer. He rises from his desk, not taking his hands off McKay, and guides them slowly toward the bed.

“You were busy,” McKay says though a series of kisses.

“It can wait.”

 

“So,” John says later. There’s a lazy smile on his face, and his hands are resting behind his head, and Rodney can’t help but think ‘this smug bastard’, but plants a kiss on his chest. “Math turns you on.”

“Oh please,” Rodney says, rolling back to the mattress. If it was just a math thing, there were at least a handful of scientists who would suffice.

“Ah. So just me then.” And Rodney wants to kiss that smug grin off his face, so he does.

“The math is definitely a perk.”


End file.
